Home Office

Refugees: Children

Baroness Sheehan: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Lord Bates on 21 March (HL Deb, col 2149), what evidence they have that allowing child refugees to sponsor relatives would "create a situation that encourages children to risk hazardous journeys to and across Europe".

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: There are a range of factors that affect migrants decisions to leave their countries and travel across Europe to seek asylum. The Government believes that allowing children to sponsor relatives would create further incentives for children to be encouraged, or even forced, to leave their family and risk hazardous journeys to the UK in order to act as sponsors.

Islam

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 3 June (HL311), whether one of the ideologies they are directly challenging is Wahhabism.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The Counter-Extremism Strategy set outs our approach to tackling extremist ideologies. We will challenge all those groups or individuals who vocally or actively oppose our fundamental values, who seek to promote, encourage and spread intolerance of individuals of different faith and beliefs. We are clear that this approach tackles all forms of extremism: violent and non violent, Islamist and neo-Nazi.

Female Genital Mutilation

Baroness Tonge: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have instigated, or plan to instigate, undercover police investigations into potential female genital mutilation perpetrators in the UK.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: How the police enforce the law in any particular case, including decisions on arrests, is an operational matter. This is in line with their duties to keep the peace, protect communities and prevent the commission of offences, working within the provisions of the legal framework set by Parliament. It is for the police to decide what might assist them in enforcement. The instigation of undercover investigations and the deployment of undercover officers is an operational matter for chief officers. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse. We will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls. To support the police in investigating cases of FGM, in March 2015 the College of Policing published Authorised Professional Practice and on 1 April we published updated multi-agency guidance on FGM for all professions, which we have put on a statutory footing to support compliance.

Refugees: Interpreters

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they and other EU member states are taking to increase the number of competent interpreters available for interviewing and assessing refugees on (1) the islands and mainland of Greece, and (2) in south-east Europe.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK continues to assist Member States facing particular migratory pressures and has responded to the request by the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) for Member States to provide interpreters to support the function of the Greek asylum system.The UK has offered up to 20 interpreters to help with the processing of migrants on the Greek Islands, a number of whom have already been deployed. We are working with EASO, the Greeks and the European Commission to plan further deployments. We also continue to work with Greece and the European Commission on how the UK can most effectively bolster their operational and deployment plan(s) and are very clear that we stand ready to do more.

EU Immigration

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect the new draft EU Resettlement Scheme to be made public; and what progress, if any, has been made in re-opening EU frontiers.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We understand the Commission are going to bring out a legislative proposal on resettlement with a Title V legal base shortly. We will consider the detail of the proposal once published.The Schengen States agreed on 12 May that certain Schengen internal border controls in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Norway can remain raised until November.

Drugs

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 13 June (HL Deb, col 1000–1002), what plans they have to remove the supply of illegal drugs and psychoactive substances from the control of organised criminals throughout the world; and what consultations they have had at an international level about achieving that goal.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Her Majesty's Government is deeply concerned about the involvement of Organised Criminal Groups (OCGs) in facilitating the trafficking of both psychoactive substances and illegal drugs.The UK works internationally with a range of partners to tackle the involvement of OCGs in drug trafficking using both bilateral and multilateral policy levers; including the UN and EU. We also have strong operational links with law enforcement partners in other countries. This work includes the sharing of operational information and expertise, the provision on capacity building, and policy dialogue.We have committed to implementing The Psychoactive Substances Act, which commenced on 26 May 2016, and are monitoring law enforcement activity to determine what impact the Act has already had. The 2010 Drug Strategy also commits us to 'combat the international flow of drugs to the UK, collaborating with international partners to disrupt drug trafficking upstream', and the 2013 Serious and Organised Crime Strategy highlights that 'capacity building, across government and in coordination with other states, is essential'. International engagement underpins the delivery of these strategies.

Female Genital Mutilation

Baroness Tonge: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to instigate targeted investigations into potential female genital mutilation perpetrators in the UK.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse. We will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls. To support the police in investigating cases of FGM, in March 2015 the College of Policing published Authorised Professional Practice and on 1 April we published updated multi-agency guidance on FGM for all professions, which we have put on a statutory footing to support compliance.How the police enforce the law in any particular case is an operational matter. This is in line with their duties to keep the peace, protect communities and prevent the commission of offences, working within the provisions of the legal framework set by Parliament. It is for the police to decide what might assist them in that enforcement.

Department for Education

Primary Education: Assessments

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the annual cost of providing assessment and testing materials in primary schools in England in each of the last five years.

Lord Nash: The comprehensive net expenditure of the Standards and Testing Agency in each of the last five years was as follows:Year endingCostYear ending March 2015£46.2mYear ending March 2014£45.9mYear ending March 2013£38.7mYear ending March 2012£28.8mYear ending March 2011£40.3m

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Telecommunications

Lord Allen of Kensington: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they plan to introduce a new Electronic Communications Code.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: Government published full details of its proposals for a new Electronic Communications Code on 17 May 2016. The new Code will form part of the Digital Economy Bill, which was announced in the Queen’s Speech on 18 May 2016 and is due to be introduced during the current Parliamentary session.

Cinemas: Kensington

Baroness Goudie: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action, if any, they plan to take to save and preserve the Kensington Odeon, maintain its classic art deco design, and reverse the impact of its closure upon the neighbourhood and community.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: Kensington Odeon is subject to a Certificate of Immunity (COI) which precludes the building being listed until 2018. The Odeon has been considered for listing twice before. It was rejected because it does not possess the special architectural or historic interest features required.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

New Businesses: Females

Baroness Burt of Solihull: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to increase the number of female role models for women entrepreneurs.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: We support the aim of having more female role models for women entrepreneurs. We are working to ensure we have the right business environment for everyone, including women, to set up and grow a business. The Business is GREAT website (http://www.greatbusiness.gov.uk/women-in-enterprise/) includes case studies of women who have started and grown successful businesses. In 2015 the Global Entrepreneurship Development Institute ranked the UK as the best country in Europe for female entrepreneurs.The Start-Up Loans Company is celebrating the achievements of British businesses with the launch of the Start-Up Loans Ambassador Programme to showcase success stories. Four of the six businesses selected as ambassadors are owned by women. We have been working with businesses to increase representation of women on boards, which we hope will also continue to create more female role models across all sectors.

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Baroness Burt of Solihull: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many staff of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills have (1) been made redundant, and (2) taken voluntary redundancy, in each of the last five years.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: The number of employees of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills HQ who have (1) exited via a Compulsory Redundancy scheme, and (2) exited via a voluntary redundancy scheme, in each of the last five financial years (April to March) are shown in the table below. Year (Apr – Mar)Exited via a Compulsory Redundancy schemeExited via a Voluntary Redundancy Scheme2011-124932012-13 32013-14272014-15 72015-16 1Grand Total6111